Racing folk aren’t usually lost for words.
But even ardent supporters of the Melbourne Racing Club were left stunned on Tuesday by the club’s decision to aggressively pursue jockeys over the Caulfield track saga on the eve of the spring carnival.
It has also inadvertently exposed racing’s little secret that has been bubbling away – the political infighting in Victorian racing is back, again.
The saga has brought to a head the quiet but real tension that again could have significant consequences for those running the sport post the spring.
It is a situation that has senior figures across racing – including wagering, trainers, owners and even political circles – concerned.
We’re talking heavy hitters.
The MRC is led by chairman Cameron Fisher and his deputy Jonathan Munz, an enormously influential figure in Victorian racing.
Relations between the club and Racing Victoria are strained. According to witnesses, those tensions between the two organisations were there for all to see at Caulfield on Saturday.
Much of this surrounds the future of Moonee Valley but the fact it was the club’s track that again caused headaches hasn’t helped.
The MRC has held several internal meetings about its two main tracks – Caulfield and Sandown – which struggled at times through autumn and early-winter, but have since improved. Both tracks are due for a makeover.
RV has had concerns about the tracks, as have others in the industry.
But the statement regarding its Caulfield track from MRC chief executive Tanya Fullarton on Tuesday left even some of the club’s most ardent supporters stunned and riders furious.
Fullarton, who worked closely with Munz through their time at the Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Association, was handed her first chief executive role after Tom Reilly departed the MRC in 2025. Munz joined the board at the same time.
Betsy has been told figures within the club’s inner sanctum were initially comfortable with their public whack of the riders who raised safety concerns on Saturday.
Many of the club’s supporters were not. Others close to the club say they weren’t aware of the statement before they read it publicly.
The MRC accept why vision of former champion jockey Darren Beadman easily lifting loose sections of turf less than an hour before race one spread around the country looked bad.
What followed was many of jockeys were unhappy with sections of the track. Betsy has been told that had stewards not moved the rail, riders were likely to vote against continuing with the meeting.
That would have been disastrous.
The rail was moved and racing continued, but the Victorian racing industry had already taken a very public beating.
Stewards ordered the club to conduct a review, which Betsy was told would be independent.
But the MRC are furious with how the situation has played out, frustrated by what they see as riders unnecessary puling up ‘plugs’ [a claim the riders deny, who say their going sticks initially picked the turf], when the club argue they are used every race day.
The problem, according to the MRC review, was not the track, but the jockeys. The club is also upset that stewards didn’t verbalise any issues earlier in the morning but understood why they ordered the movement of the rail. The club also believes advice given to select riders ahead of the meeting is to blame for the sudden attention on the ‘plugs’.
The jockeys, who walk racetracks across the country every week and who, as Victorian Jockeys’ Association boss Matt Hyland put it, are the ones “putting their neck on the line”, clearly don’t agree. They are not alone.
Many were incensed by the club’s chief executive claim they “clearly did not understand how turf plugs work”.
“The jockeys clearly did not understand how turf plugs work. The jockeys’ claim that being able to pull the tops off the plugs somehow showed that the track was unsafe is nonsense,” Fullarton said.
It was an significant escalation.
Even some sympathetic to the club were asking the obvious question: why go to war with the people who put on the show?
Why drag an embarrassing situation from Saturday into another news cycle?
Given the prestige of the club, why not choose diplomacy rather than aggression?
And if the jockeys genuinely misunderstood the turf plugs, why not sit down with their representatives, explain the process and try to ensure it never happens again?
Instead, the MRC and Fullarton reached for the sledgehammer. Media interviews on Wednesday only appeared to exacerbate the situation. But the club want it known it wasn’t their fault.
Jockeys largely kept quiet publicly on Tuesday, although privately the anger was significant. Some were conscious of upsetting Munz, one of the country’s major owners and breeders.
Mark Zahra, one of the senior riders unhappy with sections of the track on Saturday, rides Munz’s star sprinter Giga Kick.
But privately, riders are furious – and some of their descriptions of the situation are not fit for a family publication like Betsy.
Racing Victoria was hardly thrilled either.
The boss of the stewards, RV’s executive Jamie Stier, was congratulated by some for showing leadership on Tuesday for not only defending the stewards’ decision to move the rail, but he also again made note of concerns about the safety of the track on Saturday.
The tension between the MRC and RV particularly will not go away. Saturday added further fuel to that simmering fire.
RV, who isn’t perfect, has the support of the majority of participants and most of the club personnel. There is a view the Victorian state election could dictate any possible changes at RV, including at board level.
The MRC though remains firm in their position and will press on, arguably the most important club in Victoria, given the huge number of meetings and do a lot of good things by the sport. It has the financial clout to do things their own way.
But as one heavy-hitter and close friend of the MRC said yesterday, there were no winners on Tuesday.
‘’Instead of talking about the club’s achievements since they took over – and there are plenty mate – and show just how good our carnival will be, we’ve just kicked the shit out of those who put the show on,’’ he said.
